There are not so many companies interested in our story, I think Kajetan deserves support in this brave initiative.

Some images of the aircraft are well known but many hours of research were needed to decipher the inscriptions that cover the cockpit, engine nacelles, tanks and drifts. All information comes from the press of the 20s, photos found on the internet and the museum Caudron (City Street).

The plane belonged to Etienne Poulet. It has been refurbished (doc. Air life illustrated p 683) by the company Caudron.It has been modified to be able to fly for 12 hours without refueling at a maximum speed of 105km / h.

Two additional tanks were installed between the wings (500 liters of petrol instead of 150 liters of petrol and 35 liters of oil in the standard version).Both tanks were offered by Caudron (Le Matin 13/12/19).It is planned to make castor oil in the course of the trip ...

Despite Etienne Poulet's requests, no help has been given by France. The project is therefore carried out at its own expense (60,000 francs at the time) with the support of industrialist Paul Plouvier and journalist Jean Lhermit. The supplies will be supplied in part by Great Britain in its colonies, Mesopotamia, India, Siam (Thailand).With reluctance Etienne Poulet agrees to cover his plane with advertisements for the engine manufacturer Gnome and Rhone as well as for the brand varnish that covers the canvas of the aircraft.The two tanks also carry inscriptions as well as the upper wing.

Etienne Poulet and Jean Benoist bring in more fuel spare parts, two propellers fixed under the plane, a wheel in the cockpit (photo), a rifle (photo), a pistol, a can of 5 liters of water and food for a week.

The card dispenser (in the hands of the mechanic at the bottom right), the barrel of the rifle protruding fromthe cockpit and spare wheel. Advertisements on the engine nacelle

Thirty meters of cards in rolls are stored behind the driver.

The station of TSF is abandoned in favor of pigeons travelers much less heavy. Jean Benoist is thus seated between two crates during all the flight (the uncompromising 02/02/20).They carry in all 750 kg of material.

On engine nacelles advertising for Gnome and Rhône engines as well as the varnish used to coat the canvas

This photo was taken in the Caudron Museum of the city of Rue (very small but very nice and that costs only 2 €).You can also access the Caudron archives by making an appointment.

While waiting for the conversion kit to be delivered by the postman I started the engines.

They are very beautiful and only require a little sanding along the molding joint.

Note the valves springs and tumblers arms.

It will be necessary to add in the back the threads of the candles and in the front the rods of tumblers.The engine was painted in black, Alclad metal and drybrushed with steel color oil paint. We must still give a patina to the whole

The exhaust pipes are drilled and the edges of the hoods a little refined.

Instructor at the 1st squadron Caudron de Douai, he amuses himself to scare the swimmers on a beach of Berck. One of them, lying on a handcart, does not react to his dive full throttle. Poulet finally gets tired and returns. Three days later, his heroic intervention is recorded in the press: "The coolness of an aviator who did not hesitate to go down to the sands to warn the inhabitants saved the life of a paralytic who He was bogged down with his car without anyone thinking of helping him. "He was incorporated at the beginning of the war into a reconnaissance squadron and then became a test pilot at Caudron for whom he tried 5400 aircraft of 12 kinds.

They were covered with matte varnish and then patinated with a motor-grease and medium-gray colored juice.The collectors are painted in Alclad copper, much too pink for my taste.So I covered them with several layers of brown ink diluted with water until the desired color. In the photo only one has been treated with ink. They are covered with gloss varnish.

A small plate is glued to the top of each cylinder to stick on the rod of the rockers.

There are three tiny pieces per cylinder to stick (Spark plug, rockers, and rocker arm support):

There is no trace of molding, so nothing to trim.All the parts are put in place without difficulties, it is just necessary to remove them from their support. You do not even need a blade for the smaller ones.

I decided to fine-tune the trailing edge of the upper wing by scratching the intrados on the scalpel blade.

October 1919 'Étienne Poulet and Jean Benoist try their plane in front of Gaumont and Pathé's camera:The aircraft is not yet equipped with replacement propellers, engine nacelle advertisements or the name Chicken on the upper wing.

The idea of ​​the Paris Australia raid goes to Jules Vedrine, Etienne Poulet's "comrade", who asked him to accompany him.At the accidental death of Jules Vedrine (April 1919) he took over the project on his own and prepared the itinerary. He will take with him the mechanic Jean Benoist who accompanies him for several years and who was already present in 1914 during his record flight of 16h30min.The raid is undertaken to benefit the widows of Jules Vedrine and his five children.

The plane he will use will be a Caudron G-4 bought by him and modified for the occasion. It "takes off quickly, lands slowly and has all the security guarantees." The plane is slow and not very powerful but E. Poulet knows it very well.

-Characteristics of G4 Poulet and Benoist, described in L’année aéronautique 1921. Pages following the steps, mileage etc.

He gets no support from the French army or "administration". On the other hand, "Poulet received from the English government the insurancethat all the aerodromes of Mesopotamia, India and Siam would grant him all their assistance and provide him with all the necessary fuel.He gets the help of the industrialist Paul Plouvier, and Jean Lhermit (journalist) both friends of Vedrine. Mr. Plouvier will be the guardian of the five orphaned children ( Le Figaro, No. 32, February 1, 1924, p.1).

Photos extracted from the archives of "« Aéroplanes »". After analyzing the exhumed plates from their archives (now deposited in the Departmental Archives), the plates, as indicated on the box, come from St Malo / Paramé.Bulletin No. 42 Airplanes. http://lesaeroplanes.free.fr/index.htm

I started to paint the interior of the cabin. The ejection pellets are to be removed conscientiously because they are very visible. I partially removed the support of the radio right side.Étienne Poulet had abandoned TSF too heavy in favor of pigeons.

The frames will be clearer.

The plane carried, among other things, crates, a rifle (visible in the photo), pigeons, 5litres of water, some food and a spare wheel:

I thought the wheel was stowed as in the picture. So I remove the support of the passenger seat thinking that by remaking finer plastic it could return without exceeding the cockpit. Alas ... she still exceeds that much. I should have measured better before cutting.